The present invention generally relates to reinforcing carriers or core metal inserts for weatherseals and, more particularly to weatherseals used on components of motor vehicles such as luggage trunks, engine compartments, doors, and windows.
Weatherseals typically have a channel-shaped form for gripping flange joints such as those which extend around openings in motor vehicles. The weatherseals typically include a channel-shaped reinforcing carrier which is embedded within a flexible covering material such as plastic, rubber, polyurethane, or other elastomer. The carriers should be sufficiently strong to perform their desired gripping function yet sufficiently flexible to allow the weatherstrip to be curved or bent to fit the contours of the flanges upon which the weatherseal is mounted.
There are many different types of reinforcing carriers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,203 to Bright discloses a reinforcing carrier in metal blank form which is inscribed with a plurality of slits. The slits are of a first type and a second type. Each slit of the first type extends from one edge of the metal blank, through the center of the metal blank, but stops short of the other edge of the blank. Each slit of the second type extends from the opposite edge of the blank to the center of the blank. The blank is then stretched to open the slits into V-shaped slots and formed into a U-shaped channel. The slots of the first type extend from the edge of a first leg of the channel, across the entire first leg, across the entire base of the channel, and partially into a second leg of the channel. The slots of the second type extend from an edge of the second leg of the channel, entirely across the second leg, and across a portion of the base of the channel to the center of the base.
Although this type of carrier advantageously increases the flexibility of the weatherseal so that the weatherseal can be easily bent, it has been found that the increased flexibility allows weatherseals having seal members, such as bulbs or lips, to be deformed in an undesirable manner. The seal members of the covering material tend to flatten out and/or roll over at points of curvature. Such flattening out and roll over degrades the weatherseals ability to perform its sealing and insulating functions.
It has also been found that this type of carrier strip allows shrinkage of the weatherseal. Weatherseals which are cut to a desired length after extrusion of the coating material, change in length during storage and/or handling due to shrinkage. Therefore, it is necessary to initially cut the weatherseal to a rough relatively long length and to later cut the weatherseal to an exact desired length after several days and the shrinkage has stopped. This secondary cutting results in increased manufacturing costs and/or wasted material. Alternatively, it is necessary to wait several days after the extrusion of the outer coating material before the weatherseals are cut to the exact desired length. This delay, however, results in increased manufacturing costs, inventory costs, and/or shipping costs.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved reinforcing carrier for a weatherseal which provides sufficient flexibility so that the weatherseal is easily bent without undesirable deformation of the seal member and without undesirable shrinkage.